Posted on November 06, 2017

Modifying the electoral system could make huge strides in addressing this dilemma. If the Virginia legislature implemented rank choice voting (RCV), voters could express their dissatisfaction with the candidates without fear of wasting their vote.

Posted on September 26, 2017

Posted on August 16, 2017

Next spring, states will start voting in primaries for the regularly scheduled congressional midterm elections in every state. On August 15, however, two states held primaries to fill vacancies -- for U.S. Senate in Alabama as the permanent replacement to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and for U.S House in Utah to fill Jason Chaffetz’ seat in the third congressional district. The outcomes were instructive for how rules matter -- with Alabama upholding majority rule and Utah allowing non-majority nomination winners -- and for why the nation should follow Maine’s ranked choice voting primaries with a close eye next June.

Posted on August 15, 2017

Today, voters in Alabama will vote in the primary election for U.S. Senate, to fill Jeff Session’s vacant seat. However, military and overseas voters have already been voting - and they had the opportunity to rank their choices with an “instant runoff” ballot.

Posted on August 14, 2017

Posted on August 07, 2017

On June 24, the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) elected Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray as its ninth president. She was the winner of a three way race held with ranked choice voting (RCV), also known as instant runoff voting.

Posted on July 25, 2017

On June 20, in a special election for Georgia’s 6th house district Karen Handel defeated Jon Ossoff, ending a campaign that had started almost the moment the 2016 campaign had ended. The whole country seemed to be paying attention to the first big contested race in the Trump era, which was portrayed as a precursor to 2018 congressional elections. In the end, the race was negative and grueling--with one of the final ads associating Ossoff with an “unhinged left” that endorsed the shooting of Representative Steve Scalise. But it didn’t have to be.